The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for atomizing liquids for different purposes, e.g. forming a cooling, humidifying or spraying mist.
In the steel industry, long rows of jets are customarily used for cooling steel plates, the jets spraying water in an atomized form onto the plate. It is desirable that the water droplets are as small as possible in order to achieve the most effective cooling possible. The jets or nozzles customarily used have fine orifices, through which water is forced with the aid of compressed air at high pressure (usually about 600 kPa). This requires the use of water purified to a high degree. In spite thereof there are often still problems with the nozzles clogging, which is partly caused by the hot environment. In most cases the water is not sufficiently finely divided either. Providing the required high air pressure is also expensive in this connection.
Examples of different cooling arrangements in the prior art are disclosed in DE-A1-2804982, DE-A13523829, SE-B-355 507, US-A-3,533,261, and US-A-4,226,108.